After some delay, Little Pieces, my short documentary about my family, has been submitted to the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.  It’s only a rough cut, but let’s hope that there’s something there that resonates with the judges.

Why?  Because daddy needs a new pair of ski boots!

I should find out whether or not the film is accepted sometime in December with also the possibility of acceptance into AFI Fest in October.  We’ll see.

Sundancing…

Some great news just came down the wire…

Several weeks ago I submitted my two short scripts, Kilogram (Kg) and Family Grief to the Page International Screenplay Awards competition.

Not one, but BOTH of the screenplays were chosen to move up the ladder into the top 25% of screenplays chosen for the next round.

July 1st is the next cut, and I have high hopes that at least one of them will move into the top 10% for final judging.

Let’s all cross our fingers, toes, eyes… people… anything!

Time to keep writing!

The new draft to my feature script Family Grief has been completed and has gone back to my writing partner Kent Bernhard for his draft to commence.  Kent is also hard at work securing distribution for his first feature producorial effort, Cornhole: The Movie.  After 4 years on the back burner, It’s great to finally have a draft we can move forward on.  The documentary aspect of FG has entered very early stages of editing.  Mostly, I’m putting together a small little piece to raise interest and financing.

Also, in an effort to inject a bit more utility into my site, and not simply stroke my gentle ego, I will begin peppering the blog with posts that people might find useful/interesting regarding directing single and multi-camera shows, writing and producing.  I mean, at some point, this was all simply becoming an exercise in masturbation and that’s something that cannot not stand… man!

Abiding the Dude…

Venturing out on what will be a several year process, I’ve begun my production-by-peace-meal documentary on my family that is linked to my short/feature entitled Family Grief.  This is my first documentary and something I’ve been thinking about for years now.

Shooting on the Red One camera with my amazing director of Photography, Liz Rubin, we captured some beautiful moments along with a wonderfully moving interview with my immigrant grandmother whose personality is not only camera gold, but whose story is deeply inspiring.

This installment with my grandmother covered the gamut.  From our family history and how my predecessors grew and made all of their own food and wine to the two biggest trouble makers in our family… Joey and Johnny, my uncles.

We get to see our family matriarch go through the process of making pasta and pizza from scratch, something cliched to many, but common and binding for us.

The footage is beautiful.

I’m very happy with the way the Red performed and its aesthetic.

Right now, I’m re-tooling the main page for Family Grief to accommodate the new direction.  Once complete, I’ll begin posting so you can all tag along and learn a thing or two about a real Italian family.

Mine…